PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

B. Disapproving of Holding God in Full Knowledge

Although mankind knew there was God, they tested and tried Him, eventually deciding not to hold Him in their full knowledge. They disapproved of holding God in their full knowledge (1:28). Many professors and professional people do not believe in Christ. If you ask them about God, they will say, "We know there is a God, but we don't like to believe in Him." Such people disapprove of holding God in their knowledge. We must hold God in our knowledge, for it is dreadful to refuse to do this.

C. Not Glorifying God and not Worshipping Him

In the ancient times man knew God, but did not glorify Him as God. Neither did they thank Him, worship Him, or serve Him (1:21, 25). This is another element in the source of evil. Refusing to glorify God, thank God, worship God, and serve God is a major aspect of the source of wickedness. However, if we glorify and thank Him, worship and serve Him, we will be protected from every evil. There are so many divorces and so much immorality throughout the world today because people will not glorify God and worship Him. A man who glorifies God, thanks God, worships God, and serves God, will never divorce his wife. All divorces and immorality come from one source—refusing to worship God. Never think that worshipping God is an insignificant matter and that glorifying Him is trivial. They mean a great deal to our human living. We need to thank God. We have many things for which to thank Him. Some people do not thank God until the hour of their death. Although that is very late, it is better than nothing.

We need to realize that glorifying God, thanking God, worshipping God, and serving God are extremely important. Suppose I have a bad temper, a shameful and ugly disposition. If I try to suppress it, I will never succeed. However, if I thank and praise God continually, I will find the best method of escape from my poor disposition....

D. Exchanging God

Then mankind exchanged God (1:23, 25). It is terrible to exchange God, for God is the glory and the reality of the universe. When God is expressed, that is glory. To exchange God means to give Him up for something else. The people exchanged God for idols. God is glory; idols are vanity. God is reality; idols are a falsehood and a lie. How foolish and awful it was for man to exchange God for idols! Most of the people in the United States have learned not to worship visible idols, although some people do practice this. Nevertheless, many people in this country have exchanged God for their self-made idols—their future, positions, degrees, and goals. This means that their future, position, degrees, and goals have become their idols. They care for these idols, not for God. Therefore, they also have exchanged God for idols.

If we consider carefully these four aspects of the source of wickedness, we will see that they constitute the origin of every kind of evil and sinfulness.

II. THE WAY OF RESTRICTION

Now we come to the way of restriction, the way to restrict evil and wickedness. I like this part of Romans. All of us, especially the young people, need to pay our full attention to this way of restriction.

A. Knowing God by His Creation

The first item in the way of restriction is knowing God by His creation (1:19-20). The invisible things of God, His eternal power and divine nature, can be apprehended by His creation. The heavens and the earth manifest the invisible things of God. Approximately 20 years ago, the brothers in Taiwan collected biographical material on the famous scientists of the past centuries. They discovered that only a small percentage of these leading scientists said they did not believe in God. The distinct majority of them believed in Him. I once read an article in which Einstein was asked whether or not he believed in God. He replied, "Your question is an insult to me. How could a scientist such as I not believe in God?" If you study science, it will tell you that there is a God.

Although I do not know science, I know a little about our human body. Many times, as I preached to people about God, I have asked them to consider their bodies. I told them, "Think how wonderful you are. Who made you?" All the hair on our physical bodies, both inside and outside, grows downward except for the hair in our throat which grows upward. This is very meaningful. If the hair in our throat grew downward, we would die because phlegm could not be discharged. Who made us this way? ... We must say, "Lord, thank You. You are my Creator. You have made me in such a wonderful way."

(continued on page 3)